By Susan Davies, Web Science Trust 

Professor of Communication Matthew Weber, at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information (SC&I), has been named Chair of the Web Science Trust Network of Labs (WSTNet) effective January 1, 2025. Oshani Seneviratne, assistant professor of Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been named Deputy Chair.

The Web Science Trust (WST) is a charity that promotes the understanding of the Web through education and research in web science. For over a decade, WST has coordinated activities across leading web science laboratories through the WSTNet, within which research labs operate internationally in the academic space to generate world-class research and insights into the Web's impact on modern society.

"Web Science has been an important theme in my research since my days as a graduate student," Weber said, "and it is an honor to give back to the community through my support of the WSTNet program. I am honored to take on the role of WSTNet Chair, and I look forward to collaborating with our many outstanding research partners across this network."

Seneviratne said, "As Deputy Chair of WSTNet, I am thrilled to step into this role and look forward to collaboration and innovation within the WSTNet community as we navigate the exciting challenges of the next era of Web-enabled technologies. This includes addressing foundational ethical questions, such as fairness, transparency, and consent when using web-derived datasets powering transformative technologies like generative AI. I am excited to work with the WSTNet community to ensure that Web Science continues to lead these critical dialogues."

Noshir Contractor, Executive Director of the Web Science Trust, expressed enthusiasm about the appointments: "It's significant to see Matthew Weber and Oshani Seneviratne step into these crucial leadership roles. Both began their journeys in Web Science as graduate students in WSTNet labs and have grown into outstanding scholars who are helping shape Web Science's future. Their progression from students to leaders perfectly exemplifies the scholarly development and community-building the Web Science Trust aims to foster. As we face new challenges in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, their combined expertise and deep connection to the Web Science community make them ideal leaders to guide WSTNet into its next chapter."

At SC&I Weber leads the COMLab (Computational Media Lab) and is a founding member of the university's NETSci (Network Science) Lab. He is a leading researcher of media, computational social science, and web science, explicitly examining how organizations, media and individuals engage and interact across various contexts. His work includes studies to understand trust in information better and crosses an array of contexts from local media to health to energy.

Weber is currently the Chair of the Computational Methods Division for the International Communication Association (ICA) and has held leadership positions with the Academy of Management (AOM) and the National Communication Association. 

Seneviratne leads the BRAINS (Bridging Resilient, Accountable, Intelligent Networked Systems) Lab at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her primary research interest is advancing Decentralized Systems (Web, Blockchain, and Decentralized Learning technologies), and she conducts applied research in health informatics and decentralized finance.

Weber and Seneviratne are longstanding Web Science community members and leaders within their respective fields. Weber has been an active member of the Web Science community for the past 15 years, having previously served as a Program Chair for prior ACM Web Science (WebSci) conferences.

Learn more about the Communication Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website.